Congress factions trade chargesKurukshetra, May 10
The infighting among district Congress leaders has come to the fore resulting in the levelling of allegations and counter-allegations against one another.

Video-conferencing tools shiftedChandigarh, May 10
Two sets of tools for video-conferencing which were earlier installed at the office and residence of the Haryana Chief Minister have been recently shifted to the offices of the Deputy Commissioners of Jind and Narnaul.

HTDC in a fix over liquor stockChandigarh, May 10
The Haryana Tourism Development Corporation has been caught in a piquant situation as it does not know what to do with the liquor stocks it has on its inventory.

HTDC plans ‘mini-India’ park at SurajkundChandigarh, May 10
The Haryana Tourism Development Corporation proposes to set up a “mini-India” park highlighting various attractions, including historical, cultural, social and economical progress of each state and union territory in its Surajkund complex.

Students
perform during a cultural
festival being held in M.M. Engineering College, Mullana.
— Photo
Neeraj Chopra

Stories from Haryana towns falling in the
National Capital Region are put in NCR Tribune.

Poor sewerage bane of SirsaSirsa, May 10
In at least 15 of the total 31 wards in the Sirsa Municipal Committee limit, residents are facing problems due to lack of basic public amenities. The sewerage is poor and potable water supply inadequate. Many a time, residents of these wards have been forced to come out on the streets in protest against the administration.

8 Bt cotton hybrids to be testedSirsa, May 10
Eight hybrids of Bt Cotton will be evaluated for the North Indian climate during this cotton sowing season. The Union Agriculture Ministry, after the rejection of all the previous trials of Bt Cotton seeds in the North, has again directed its research wing to take a fresh look on this subject.

HIGH COURT
Termination orderChandigarh, May 10
Incredible, but true. A Haryana Government employee, working with the lotteries department, was dismissed from service four years after he retired upon attaining the age of superannuation.

15 pc fall in highway accidentsKarnal, May 10
Mr M.S. Malik, Director-General of Police, Haryana, has complimented the Haryana Highway Patrol and Road Safety Police for reducing accidents and related fatalities and injuries consistently by 15 per cent during the past three years.

Confusion over VAT among tradersAmbala, May 10
The Ambala Trader Federation in a memorandum sent to the Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, has urged him to put off the implementation of VAT in the state till it is enforced in the neighbouring states.

Seminar on latest advances in medicareNaraingarh, May 10
As a part of its outreach programme, Fortis organised a seminar for city doctors on ‘Latest advances in medical care’ at Naraingarh today.

‘Make copying a criminal offence’Ambala, May 10
Mr Avinash Chawla, Vice-Chancellor of Kurukshetra University said the Haryana
Government had been planning to make copying in the examination a criminal offence.

Road dividers to ease traffic flowAmbala, May 10
In yet another attempt to improve the traffic congestion in Ambala
Sadar, the district administration has set up road dividers in the main market.

Women helpline squads on cardsAmbala, May 10
The Haryana police has ordered the setting up of women helpline flying squads in the state police headquarters and at all range-level headquarters in the state to check the cases of atrocities on women and for providing them immediate legal redressal.

Kurukshetra, May 10
The infighting among district Congress leaders has come to the fore resulting in the levelling of allegations and counter-allegations against one another.

The president of the Haryana Pradesh Women Congress Sewa Dal, Mrs Shashi Saini, who had fought the previous Haryana Vidhan Sabha elections on the Congress ticket from the Thanesar constituency, in a complaint to the district police chief here yesterday had alleged that three Congress leaders, the District Congress Committee (DCC) president, Mr Pawan Garg, the Haryana Pradesh Congress Vichar Vibhag, chairman, Dr Subhash Sharma, and a Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee (HPCC) member, Mr Rai Sahab Sharma, had conspired to kill her due to a political grudge. She had demanded that police action be initiated against them.

She had also alleged that all of them were the Congress candidates from the Thanesar constituency and that was why they had conspired against her. They intended to oust her from this town and to achieve this, they had been threatening her on telephone time and again to leave the town before the commencement of the Haryana Vidhan Sabha elections. She said they had constituted an inquiry committee on false grounds and had threatened her to leave the town before May 11. She had also demanded protection and safety to her life and property.

She told mediapersons that she had also been threatened to stop organising political functions.

Describing all these allegations against them as “false” and “baseless”, Mr Pawan Garg, at a press conference on the premises of Congress Bhavan here today, said Mrs Saini was trying to tarnish their images.

Talking about the constitution of an inquiry committee by the DCC against her, he said an HPCC,member, Mr Rai Sahab Sharma had submitted an affidavit to the DCC alleging that she had demanded Rs 2 lakh from him for getting him appointed as the DCC president. Mr Sharma had paid Rs 1,70,000. But neither had she got appointed Mr Sharma as the DCC president nor returned the money.

Mr Garg further said on behalf of the DCC he had already conveyed his complaint to the HPCC along with a copy of the said affidavit. The issue had also been raised on various occasions at the DCC meetings held here in the past. He said to establish the truth, an inquiry committee, headed by the Haryana Pradesh Congress Vichaar Vibhaag chairman, Dr Sharma, was formed so that the problem could be solved within the party.

Referring to May 11, Mr Garg said the inquiry committee, chairman, Dr Sharma, had asked her to visit his office on May 11 to present the truth. Otherwise action would be initiated against her in her absence and the report would be despatched to the Congress leadership.

Mr Garg said he had neither threatened Mrs Saini nor conspired against her at any time.

Chandigarh, May 10
Two sets of tools for video-conferencing which were earlier installed at the office and residence of the Haryana Chief Minister have been recently shifted to the offices of the Deputy Commissioners of Jind and Narnaul.

The facility was launched by the Centre for e-governance of the state government with much fanfare about two years ago. An official release issued after the inauguration of the facility by the Chief Minister said that through this system Mr Om Prakash Chautala would be able to interact with people of 15 to 20 villages in a single day. The “Sarkar Aapke Dwar” programme, too, would get a new dimension with the introduction of video conferencing, the release added.

However, the machines were apparently removed from the CM’s premises as he found them of no practical use. In fact both set of tools were removed quite sometime back and kept somewhere in the Secretariat building. Recently, these were re-installed at the DC offices of Jind and Narnaul. It was also learnt that the facility at Narnaul was yet to become operational due to some problem with the telephone lines there. An official here, however, claimed that work was on to rectify the problem and the gadget would be ready for use very soon.

It was learnt that about Rs 65 lakh was spent on the installation of the facility for the CM’s use as well as at four divisional headquarters of the state. Instead of the office of the Commissioners of Rohtak, Hisar and Gurgaon divisions, the facility was installed at the offices of the DCs of the Rohtak, Hisar and Gurgaon districts to ensure better accessibility to common people. For the Ambala division, machines for video conferencing was set up at Kurukshetra. The idea was that people as well as officials falling under these divisions would gather in their respective video-conferencing centres and discuss urgent matters with the Chief Minister. However, with Mr Chautala finding the system of no practical use, the whole exercise has apparently lost its rationale.

Though the facility is still stated to be available at the Chief Secretary’s committee room in the Secretariat building here, it is doubtful if it has been ever put into any kind of practical use.

Incidentally, after launching video-conferencing, the centre for e-governance, as a follow-up action, also proposed purchase of a mobile e-van for going to towns as well as villages for connecting people with the Chief Minister at Chandigarh. This proposal, which would have entailed expenditure of another Rs 30 lakh or so from the exchequer, had been stalled by the state government in view of the disastrous outcome of the conferencing experiment.

“The facility was perhaps installed in a huff without realising that such a thing was not needed for a small state like Haryana,” remarked an official. The official added that people of the state were also not geared up to take advantage of such a hi-tech system.

Chandigarh, May 10
The Haryana Tourism Development Corporation (HTDC) has been caught in a piquant situation as it does not know what to do with the liquor stocks it has on its inventory. Under the next excise policy effective from April 1, the HTDC is prohibited from selling popular and cheaper brands of Indian-made foreign liquor (IMFL) in any of its licensed hotels, restaurants and bars.

“The new policy permits sale of only premier brands at licensed hotels, restaurants and bars. It does not cover the HTDC joints alone but all such joints in the private sector also,” says Mr S.N. Roy, Excise and Taxation Commissioner.

Under the new policy, even rum or other popular brands of single malt whisky are not permitted to be sold at hotels, restaurants and bars in the state.

“We have asked our outlets throughout the state to send us a complete list of their inventory of liquor stocks. It may not be much. We are writing to the state government as well as the Excise and Taxation Department for directions,” says Ms Navraj Sandhu, Managing Director of the HTDC, holding that the corporation had also sought a clarification from the Excise and Taxation Department about sale of rum and its premier brands.

It is not only hotels, restaurants and bars alone, the HTDC is also an L-1 licensee (wholesale dealer) of the Haryana Excise and Taxation Department. It is because of this license that it has a big inventory of brands which are no more permitted to be sold through hotels, restaurants and bars. According to an estimate, the value of such brands lying in godowns of the HTDC runs into several lakhs of rupees.

However, Mr Roy says that there is “no problem for the HTDC to dispose of its stocks”. “As far as stocks at various outlets are concerned, they can be either returned to the suppliers in exchange for permitted brands or for a refund as they do not involve payment of any duty,” says Mr Roy.

“They have two options — either to exchange these stocks or transfer them to any other distributor of the same distillery or even dispose them of in the open market. We will assist them in getting these inventories cleared,” said Mr Roy.

Chandigarh, May 10
The Haryana Tourism Development Corporation (HTDC) proposes to set up a “mini-India” park highlighting various attractions, including historical, cultural, social and economical progress of each state and union territory in its Surajkund complex.

Though the Haryana Government has cleared the proposal in principle, the provision for funding the project is yet to be made.

The project is being modelled on “similar miniature country parks” in Europe and some other parts of the world.

Though Surajkund has earned a niche for itself in the field of art and crafts with its annual mela, the HTDC proposes to use the vast expanse of land it has adjoining the existing complex.

Talking to The Tribune here yesterday, Ms Navraj Sandhu, Managing Director of the HTDC, said that the Department of Tourism, Government of India, and the Indian Tourism Development Corporation would be approached not only for active participation in the project but also for financial assistance for this first-of-its-kind “theme park” in this part of the world.

The HTDC proposes to give each state a piece of land to showcase its culture, places of tourist attraction, lifestyle and other aspects of social life. For example, Uttar Pradesh may be asked to put up a “miniature Taj Mahal”, while Kerala can project its picturesque settings and display “rowing”. Rajasthan can showcase its “palaces and forts”, while some southern states can put up miniature models of ancient and historical temples.

“Being closer to the union Capital, we hope that this “mini-India” park, which will provide a glimpse of this diverse country, will become a round-the-year tourist attraction,” says Mrs Sandhu hoping that the project starts concretising soon. She said that after “highway tourism”, the state had to look for newer avenues for its growth and development. “We have also decided to develop our complex at Rai, 40 km from Delhi, into a typical village haveli by providing the genuine rural Haryanvi ambience and setting.”

“The HTDC also proposes to develop a new complex in Sirsa, near its barrage, where, besides a restaurant, we plan to develop an amusement park with some joy rides and other such attractions which will be new to that area,” she said, hoping that adventure park being developed by the corporation at Morni would be another addition to the complexes the corporation had.

Sirsa, May 10
In at least 15 of the total 31 wards in the Sirsa Municipal Committee limit, residents are facing problems due to lack of basic public amenities. The sewerage is poor and potable water supply inadequate. Many a time, residents of these wards have been forced to come out on the streets in protest against the administration. Assurances and some action did bring some respite, but it was temporary and the problems persist.

According to the information gathered, Ward no 1 comprises the fringes of the city, including new Housing Board Colony. Residents there have to face the problems due to poor sewerage. There is also often an acute shortage of drinking water. In some parts, manholes are usually overflowing. Regular water supply is hampered by leakages in the pipes at some places. This also leads to the problem of polluted water.

Om Parkash and
Rajender, residing in this ward for over 10 years, complain that they have reported about these problems to the Municipal Councillor, but to no effect.

Ward no. 2 that was carved out of the area included in the municipal limit when the MC was expanded has no sewers at all while only one or two streets in Ward no 4 have been given sewerage connections.

When women of this ward held demonstrations and obstructed traffic on National Highway No 10, the administration had sanctioned Rs 12 lakh for laying down sewerage lines, but even after the passage of several months, the work has not started yet.

Ward no 15 has sewerage only in name. Either there is no sewerage line or if there is, it is blocked or broken. This ward reels under the worst condition. It is represented by a Congress councillor, who complains of the apathy of the Public Health Department. But the department says it lacks finance to redress the problems.

Ward no 6 mainly comprises the Railway Colony. This colony suffers due to lack of public facilities because the municipality brushes off its accountability and liability, saying that development works in this colony come within the jurisdiction of the Railway authorities. Ward nos 12 and 13 comprise the area in the heart of the old city. The sewerage lines here are old, weak and congested due to which even a mild shower creates havoc. The roads get flooded with overflowing sewage. Many roads have been cemented, but without the overhauling of the sewers, their life is bound to be short.

Ward nos 7 and 14 mainly consists of encroached area. Subhash Basti with about 70 houses was razed a couple of weeks back. While Ward no 14 has received funds to the tune of crores, they are being spent on the development of a public park and a lake instead of first improving the basic public facilities.

Ward nos 9, 10 and 11 are the favoured ones for they are being developed as model colonies under a government scheme.

Ward no 5 has few problems because the residence of the Chief Minister is situated here.

Ward no 8 is the ward of the vice-president of the MC. Many residents of this area allege that streets in which “influential” people live are being taken care of while the conditions of other streets remain poor and are unattended by the authorities.

Sirsa, May 10
Eight hybrids of Bt Cotton will be evaluated for the North Indian climate during this cotton sowing season. The Union Agriculture Ministry, after the rejection of all the previous trials of Bt Cotton seeds in the North, has again directed its research wing to take a fresh look on this subject. This time, too, the local regional station of the Central Institute of Cotton Research, Nagpur, has been assigned this work.

The in charge of the local regional station, CICR, Dr D. Monga today said that a direction to this effect had been received. He said during this sowing season, the CICR’s local regional station would coordinate the trial of Bt cotton seeds at five different locations — Sriganganagar in Rajasthan, Faridkot and Ludhiana in Punjab and Hisar and Sirsa in Haryana.

He said eight hybrids of three companies — Mahyco, Rasi and Ankur — would be tested for the North Indian conditions again. This was because the earlier Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) of the Union Ministry of Environment had rejected the earlier trials on the basis that these did not fulfil the conditions laid down by the committee. These trials were conducted at only two places.

According to Dr Monga, Ankur-651, Ankur-2226, Ankur-2534, MRC-6301, MRC-6304, RCH-134, RCH-138 and RCH-317 in their Bt and non-Bt versions will be tested at all these five locations this time. He said since the GEAC had not approved any Bt variety for North India so far, he would not recommend Bt Cotton for any cotton grower in the region.

Chandigarh, May 10
Incredible, but true. A Haryana Government employee, working with the lotteries department, was dismissed from service four years after he retired upon attaining the age of superannuation.

In his petition, S.K. Bhargava claimed that he had retired on September 30, 1987, but the orders dismissing him from service were passed on December 16, 1991. Challenging the orders, Mr Bhargava contended that the same could not have been passed with retrospective effect.

Going into the background of the case, the petitioner asserted that initially he was served a charge-sheet regarding non-deposition of sale proceeds, but was reinstated two days before his retirement. However, to his utter surprise an order directing his dismissal was issued four years after his retirement.

After going through the documents and hearing arguments in the case, Mr Justice Viney Mittal of the high court quashed the termination order. The Judge, however, granted respondents liberty to take appropriate action in accordance with the law against the petitioner if any loss had been caused to the exchequer.

The Judge concluded: “If any such action is proposed to be taken, the petitioner sould be served a show-cause notice. A speaking order would be passed after affording an opportunity of hearing to the petitioner in the matter. The final decision with regard to the release of retiral benefits would be taken by the respondents within three months of receiving a certified copy of the order”.

Karnal, May 10
Mr M.S. Malik, Director-General of Police, Haryana, has complimented the Haryana Highway Patrol and Road Safety Police for reducing accidents and related fatalities and injuries consistently by 15 per cent during the past three years.

Mr Malik was speaking at a workshop on Safety Traffic Management of National Highways in Haryana organised by the Haryana Highways Patrol and Road Safety Police and the Institute of Road Traffic Education here today.

He said safety on national highways can be achieved by spreading traffic education among the masses, reducing the effective response time to take the victims of accidents to hospitals, clearing roads of accidents and jams expeditiously and intimating the relatives of the victims and also providing exposure to the children about the practical aspects of observing traffic rules and ensuring their involvement in traffic regulation.

He said that according to an estimate by the Ministry of Surface Transport, the economic burden of accidents was around 3 per cent of the GDP as every year 80,000 persons died and 3.20 lakh were injured on the Indian roads. Presiding over the workshop, Mr R.N. Prasher, Commissioner and Secretary, Haryana Transport, said accidents could be minimised by identifying accident-prone areas, dangerous driving traits and by taking corrective and preventive measures.

Ambala, May 10
The Ambala Trader Federation in a memorandum sent to the Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, has urged him to put off the implementation of VAT in the state till it is enforced in the neighbouring states.

The Chairman of the federation, Dr N.C. Jain, said in the memorandum that there was utter confusion in the industry and the trade whether the VAT system was implemented in the state from April 1 or not as recently the Union Finance Minister, Mr Jaswant Singh, had announced in Parliament that it would not be imposed this year. Moreover, the Chairman of the All-India VAT Committee, Mr Asim Sain Gupta, had also suggested a number of amendments in the bill, he added.

Mr Jain said all adjoining states of Haryana had not yet decided about the implementation of VAT in their respective states.

He said in view of it, Haryana should postpone its implementation till the adjoining states implement it. If the state government did not withdraw it immediately, the price of consumable items would be hiked and common customers and traders would be sufferers, he added.

He said the businessmen from Haryana had started shifting to adjoining states, which would ruin the trade and industry in Haryana.

Naraingarh, May 10
As a part of its outreach programme, Fortis organised a seminar for city doctors on ‘Latest advances in medical care’ at Naraingarh today.

Fortis has so far held a number of educational programmes on cardiac care management and other multi-specialities in Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir. This is the first such initiative by a cardiac hospital in the region to reach out to the medical fraternity of northern India. So far over 1,500 doctors in these states have
benefited from such programmes.

Dr Rakesh Jaswal, Consultant Interventional Cardiology, Fortis Heart Institute and Multi-Speciality Hospital, said, “Coronary artery disease is affecting more than 3 per cent population of the country. A disease that affected people between 50 and 70 years of age is now affecting younger patients between 35 and 43 years of age due to erratic lifestyles and total disregard for physical fitness. The future looks even grimmer. The problem is that many people suffering from cardiac disease aren’t aware they have it and the problem virtually goes unnoticed until it produces a heart attack. Over 45 million patients are suffering from coronary artery disease in India and about one-fifth of them die due to it.”

Speaking on gastroenterology, Dr Munish Chhabbra, Consultant at the hospital, said, “A large number of people in developed countries suffer from complaints of the digestive tract. Chronic gastric disease is a common disorder affecting more than 10 per cent of our population. Early diagnosis and treatment is very essential in such cases.”

Dr Hemant Haridkar, Consultant, Urology, said, “A large number of people in North India suffer from kidney disorders. Unfortunately, chronic renal insufficiency is usually asymptomatic and the exact number of people affected is unknown. The challenge is to initiate effective programmes to prevent progression of established kidney disease and to institute methods to assess the progress of such initiatives.”

Ambala, May 10
Mr Avinash Chawla, Vice-Chancellor of Kurukshetra University said the Haryana
Government had been planning to make copying in the examination a criminal offence.

Talking to mediapersons in MM Engineering College at Mulana last evening, he said Kurukshetra University had sent a blueprint of its suggestions to the state government which was finalised at a meeting of the various Principals and Deans of the university a few days back. He said in comparison to colleges, schools were the worst affected by the copying menace in different Board examinations. Mr Chawla said a meeting of the engineering colleges affiliated to KU would be summoned soon to discuss their problems.

Ambala, May 10
In yet another attempt to improve the traffic congestion in Ambala Sadar, the district administration has set up road dividers in the main market.

The road dividers have been established with an idea of ensuring that traffic snarls do not take place on the busy road. With cars and other large vehicles not being allowed to turn towards the main market of Ambala Sadar , the traffic condition has substantially improved.

Barriers have been set up and police personnel are present to ensure smooth traffic movement. The car owners are directed to park their vehicles in the parking area earmarked behind the Rai market.

Mr H.S. Doon, SP , Ambala, said the barriers had been set up on an experimental basis. "We are observing the traffic movement and we have noticed that there is a marked improvement," he added.

He stated that the traffic drive would be intensified after the sanitation drive was completed.

An earlier attempt to ease traffic movement had not met with much success. A few months ago, the scooterists were asked to park within a yellow line along the road and the car owners were asked to park their vehicle in the parking area.

Encroachments by some shopkeepers had hardly left any space on the road and on several instances, the encroachments were up to the yellow line.

The Executive Officer, Municipal Council, Ambala Sadar, Mr K.K. Jain, said these barriers
would ensure that the traffic does not slow down.

"We have also launched a sanitation drive. During the drive, we also tell the shopkeepers to not to keep their generators on the road. This will help in giving more space," he stated.

Mr Jain said the banks had been asked to tell their employees to park the vehicles in the earmarked parking area.

The Ambala Cantonment Traders Federation chairman, Dr N.C .Jain, said the administration must take the traders into confidence before initiating any move, since the traders were directly affected. "The move to set up barriers should have been preceded by removing the hawkers . The rehris eat up a lot of space on the main road," he observed.

"With traffic being diverted away from the Ambala Sadar main market, the vehicle owners will now prefer to go to markets which are located in the outskirts. Our business is adversely affected due to such a step," headded.

A section of the traders, whose shops are located in the Ambala Sadar market, are of the opinion that the setting up of the road dividers would only have a marginal impact on the traffic situation. They feel that the motorists must have unhindered access to the market, as it was earlier.

Ambala, May 10
The Haryana police has ordered the setting up of women helpline flying squads in the state police headquarters and at all range-level headquarters in the state to check the cases of atrocities on women and for providing them immediate legal redressal.

Giving this information, the SP, Ambala, Mr Hardeep Singh Doon, said the Crime Against Women Cells had been established at all range headquarters in Ambala, Hisar, Gurgaon and Rohtak under the supervision of the respective IGPs. The Flying Squad (Women Helpline), which had been specially set up by the Director-General, Haryana, would work round-the-clock.

Each flying squad will comprise a woman inspector/sub -inspector, three women head constables and three constables. Besides this, there will be one doctor and one officer of the civil administration. A vehicle and wireless services would also be available with them.

He said all SPs, wherever the range-level and PHQ’s-level flying squad were located would contact the DC concerned and the CMO for providing a doctor and an administrative officer to provide on-the-spot legal aid.

Women cells have been constituted in all range headquarters, which will work under the inspectors concerned.

The SP said while the jurisdiction of the range flying squad would be the jurisdiction of the entire range, that of Ambala range would be the districts of Ambala except Panchkula.

In Ambala, any crime against women could be reported at any women police station in the cantonment, on phone number 2612304 and in Ambala City at Baldev Nagar police station on Phone No. 2542588.